The Problem of Suffering (Prompt 2)

"Job" deals with the problem of human suffering at its extreme. Satan tests the faith of Job by causing him to undergo heightened physical and psychological pain.

By the end of "Job," the protagonist learns to retain faith in God no matter what circumstances may prevail. Faith must be enough for human existence. Job learns this lesson; we can speculate that a similar message was to be conveyed to the Bible's readers.

For this story addresses a question we in fact do not have the answers to: why do we suffer? Also why do some live healthily? In today's world, we focus on what we consider 'concrete' - physical and psychological health, drastic events, etc. - to explain our circumstances. But a group such as the Israelites without scientific innovations as ours, one moreover without regard for science, would need a different explanation to rely on.

The idea that God causes all and that we do not have the capacity to understand Him can be seen as a reasonable explanation. It is comforting in that we attribute realities to another's responsibility. For instance, one who believes something or someone else to have caused his failure remains confident in himself. God is also a pleasing explanation in that it addresses all that humans cannot control. Amazing and terrible things happen because there is no rhyme or reason to God's actions: Job says, "He leads priests away stripped, and overthrows the mighty. He deprives of speech those who are trusted, and takes away the discernment of the elders. He pours contempt on princes, and looses the belt of the strong. He uncovers, the deeps out of darkness, and brings deep darkness to light. He makes nations great, and he destroys them: he enlarges nations, and leads them away. He takes away understanding from the chiefs of the people of the earth, and makes them wander in a pathless waste. " (Job, 12:19, 12:24). Attributing responsibility along with order (or disorder) to God allows humans to understand their limits.

Job's Questionable Rewards for Faith (Prompt 8)

In "Job," the character of Job suffers for losing faith in God. Though Satan causes his pain, God establishes that if He wanted He could prolong it. For God does not owe any man any kind of blessing: He asks the rhetorical question, "Who has given to me, that I should repay Him?" (Job, 41:11). God believes that humans must be indifferent to suffering - and anything else, for that matter - because faith is all they need.

When Job finally "repent(s) in dust and ashes" for not having faith in God, however, God does reward him (42:6). "...the Lord restored the fortunes of Job" and later "blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning; and he had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels" etc. (42:10, 42:12).

If God does not owe anything to man, why does Job deserve a reward for having faith in God? Should not rewards be as meaningless as suffering, in the face of God?

These are unanswerable questions that result from a confusing, hypocritical solution. What we can investigate, however, is why the author felt the need to end Job pleasantly. He must have felt the need to sacrifice the alternative, logical ending - Job regains faith in God and either continues to suffer or does not, but that does not matter because the human experience only depends on faith - for good reason.

"Job" stresses obedience to God and indifference to all else, at the same time as it presents incentives as material as camels for obedience. For as a set of beliefs created by humans and for humans, they must appease humans. "Job" comes to finally promote faith not only with material incentives; by relieving Job's pain in the end, it also associates suffering with godlessness and health with faith. Faith alone will not suffice for the readers of the Bible; health and other rewards must be at stake as well.

God's Motives in Job (Prompts 3 and 4)

At the beginning of "Job," God sees Job as "a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil" (Job, 2:3). Thus He sees no reason to test Job's faith, until Satan proposes to do so.

Satan warns God of Job, "touch his bone and his flesh and he will curse thee to thy face" (2:5). Satan thus sees imperfection in Job, which he can exaggerate under the circumstances of pain.

Satan's hypothesis proves later to be true, when Job rejects God for causing him to undergo so much pain. Job thereby loses faith in God as supreme, and in His actions and judgments as correct. God therefore is proved wrong by Satan. "Job" is a triumph for Satan in that he demonstrates that God's assumption is false, as well as in that he finds one of his deviant qualities in man. Satan successfully fills these two goals.

God, on the other hand, has no motive in "Job." He nevertheless gets his confidence taken away; there is a sinner in someone He highly regards. The fact that God, unlike Satan, had little curiosity in Job's faith points to God's confidence. God feels no need to defend Job for this reason, and is happy letting Satan do the 'dirty work' of trying to find in him a fault: "Behold, he is in your power; only spare his life" (2:6). The lack of a plan in "God" prepares Him for a grand criticism when error is found.

So when Job proves to defy God, it is not only an affront to His power but also His own knowledge. God has upheld someone to be faithful when he is not; He has also cockily assumed someone to be on His side when he is not. Satan's attack on God reveals faultiness in humans and faultiness in Him as well.